Rethymno, Greece

After our world wind trip to Athens, we headed back to the island of Crete for some beach time in another city – Rethymno. The city itself is very quaint and the streets were very nice and atmospheric. It was very touristy however and the way the streets were designed was not conductive to bringing the breeze from the ocean into the city. I loved the crowded balconies overlooking the streets, overflowing with flowers and vegetation:

On our first night in the city, we went to a local beach that was relatively quiet, but turned into quite the adventure. The day was warm – over 30 degrees for sure – and we were at the beach close to sunset. The water was still fairly warm when we went in. While standing in the water, I suddenly felt a nip at my heel. At first I thought it was some sort of rock brushing up against me. But then it happened again and again. G. thought I was making it up, but then he felt something on his foot too. Eventually we realized that in the water were a number of very tiny fish swimming around and if you stood still for too long, they would come and nip at you.

After swimming around, we headed back to our towel for some reading when an older lady came up to us, asking us to look over her bag which was fine. After her swim, she came back and grabbed her bag back. But she must have gone back into the water later, because she came back to us asking if we have seen her bag, which we hadn’t. Someone must have come and taken it from the beach – we were only a couple meters away. Just out of direct eyesight when reading, but still very close. Talk about the audacity of the thief! Just walk right up and grab. How would they know that we wouldn’t have looked up at that moment and seen them do it. In any case, we helped her look for her bag (in case the thief just took the valuables and left her clothing), but nothing turned up. In the end, she gave up trying to look and left. I still can’t believe that this happened while I was only a couple meters away.

We spent the rest of the time on the island enjoying the sand and sun and wandering the city. The beaches were crowded and the sand hot. I’ve never been a big fan of sitting on a beach for a whole day and I can’t say I enjoyed it. At least the water felt nice and it didn’t have tiny fishes nipping at your heels.

The city has a venetian harbour like Chania, but this one was not as pretty. On one side of the port was the Fortress of Rethymno which we explored on our last day. Like the city itself, there is really not all that much to see of the fortress. Most of it has fallen into disrepair.

View of the fortress from below

The different parts of the fortress. You can see its not in great shape.

Can you see the cicada? These were everywhere at the fortress and were all making a ruckus. So annoying!

Rethymno from the fortress. Its so flat!

When it came time to leave the city, I was more than happy to go. While it had its charm, I felt it was overrun with tourists and didn’t have the beauty of Chania.

What do you think? Have you been to Rethymno before? Did you feel it was too touristy?